Bernice Tannenbaum, president of Hadassah, told some 3000 delegates attending Hadassah’s annual convention here last week, that “anti-Semitism is on the increase, disguised as anti-Zionism and anti-Israelism; in the various international political fronts operating as bodies of the United Nations, such as the General Assembly, UNESCO and even the Security Council, where attempts are being made to turn Israel into a non-nation by question national legitimacy,”
Tannenbaum noted that just before the convention here began “we watched with dismay at the United States abstention in the Security Council. It is difficult to reconcile Secretary of State Muskie’s strong criticism of the Security Council’s latest censure of Israel with the subsequent abstention, when logically his words should have been reinforced by a U.S. veto.”
Continuing, she said, “Not only does the abstention diminish the meaning of the Secretary’s own message, in which he calls the resolution ‘fundamentally flawed … unbalanced and unrealistic’ and damaging to prospects for peace in the Middle East, but it undermines the U.S. role in promoting the Camp David agreements.”
JERUSALEM IS ISRAEL’S DE FACTO CAPITAL
As for Jerusalem, “it is de facto the capital of Israel, and as a united city if has — under Israeli administration — not only been preserved and restored, but it has been open to people of all faiths,” Tannenbaum declared. “No Arab country, and most of those member states in the UN who routinely vote against Israel, have a record of due process and of protecting civil rights and civil liberties that qualifies them to teach Israel about pluralism and the rights of minorities. This resolution makes a mockery of the Camp David accords and seriously undermines Israel’s status in Jerusalem by calling on all countries to withdraw their embassies, from Jerusalem.”
Tannenbaum expressed the hope that President Carter, “will change his position and honor the platform adopted by the overwhelming majority of his own party — which recognizes and supports the established status of Jerusalem as a united city and the capital of Israel.”
HADASSAH RAISED $33 MILLION IN 1980
Dealing with Hadassah, she announced that Hadassah’s 370,000 members raised a record $33 million this year, $1.8 million more than last year. “While this is a stunning accomplishment for our members — there are no professional fund raisers in Hadassah — this increase in collections does not keep up with inflation, here or in Israel,” she said.
At the opening of the convention, Los Angeles Mayor Tom Bradley proclaimed August as Henrietta Szold Month in honor of the founder of Hadassah. The proclamation was accepted by the convention’s co-chairperson Edith Zamost of Highland Park, N. J., Los Angeles co-chairperson Enid Young, and Beatrice Feldman of New York, national Henrietta, Szold Anniversary Celebration Committee chair person.
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
